Canada day today and so my blog today is the top 5 most impressive performance in the UFC by Canadians. This list could easily be 5 Georges St. Pierre fights so I capped him off at only his two best. In no particular order
*Georges St. Pierre over BJ Penn at UFC 94. This fight was a bout between two of the top four pound-for-pound guys in the sport. It was expected to be a fairly close fight. So what happened? GSP beat the living piss out of Penn for 20 minutes and made him look like a guy who had never fought before. A bit of the victory was taken away by the grease scandal afterwards (which for the record, had NO effect on the fight) but GSP make BJ his bitch that night and then some.
*Carlos Newton over Pat Miletich at UFC 31. Pat Miletich had won 7 straight in the UFC by this point and while Newton was acknowledged as a good fighter, not too many people expected him to win the fight. Instead Newton caught Miletich in one of my alltime favorite submission victories and captured the Welterweight Title in one is generally considered to be one of the best UFC shows ever.
*Sam Stout over Spencer Fisher at UFC 58. Fisher took this fight on short notice and I believe that is the only reason Stout won this fight. Fisher at that time was clearly a much better fighter than Stout. But Stout took the most of the opportunity and looked outstanding as he and Fisher had one of the better fights of the year that night.
*Georges St. Pierre over Matt Hughes at UFC 65. I think everybody knew that GSP would someday be holding UFC gold, they just didn't know when. GSP dominated this fight over Hughes who was 12-1 in his last 13 inside the octagon up to that point. GSP destroyed Hughes and won the title for the first time before being shocked by Matt Serra a few months later.
*Gary Goodridge over Paul Herrera at UFC 8. This 13 second massacre was one of the first hilight reel knockouts from the early UFC events. It's rumored that Herrera made racist comments towards Goodridge before the fight and Goodridge made him pay by catching him in the crucifix position and unloading a barrage of unobstructed elbows to Herrera's face that knocked him silly.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
July rankings
Day early but oh well. Really struggling to find thing to talk about these days, such a slow period in mma right now.
HEAVYWEIGHT
1. Fedor Emelianenko, 2. Josh Barnett, 3. Frank Mir, 4. Rodrigo Nogueira, 5. Brock Lesnar, 6. Randy Couture, 7. Brett Rogers, 8. Andrei Arlovski, 9. Shane Carwin, 10. Junior dos Santos
*Big shake up over the past month. Rogers crashes the rankings at number 7 after upsetting Arlovski who falls from 3 to 8. With Arlovski dropping, Mir, Nogueira, Lesnar, and Couture all move up one spot. Tim Sylvia drops out of the rankings from the 7 spot due to his loss to Ray Mercer. Frabicio Werdum also exits the rankings due to inactivity. This allows Shane Carwin to debut in the rankings at number 9.
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
1. Lyoto Machida, 2. Rashad Evans, 3. Forrest Griffin, 4. Quinton Jackson, 5. Mauricio Rua, 6. Renato Sobral, 7. Rogerio Nogueira, 8. Luiz Arthur Cane, 9. Rich Franklin, 10. Thiago Silva.
*Wanderlei Silva exits the rankings from the number 6 spot following his loss to Rich Franklin who enters at number 9. Sobral, Nogueira, and Cane all move up one spot.
MIDDLEWEIGHT
1. Anderson Silva, 2. Dan Henderson, 3. Yushin Okami, 4. Demian Maia, 5. Nathan Marquardt, 6. Robbie Lawler, 7. Jorge Santiago, 8. Thales Leties, 9. Kazuo Misaki, 10. Vitor Belfort
*Lawler drops from 4 to 6 following his loss to Jake Shields which allows Maia and Marquardt to move up one spot each.
WELTERWEIGHT
1. Georges St. Pierre, 2. Thiago Alves, 3. Jake Shields, 4. Jon Fitch, 5. Matt Hughes, 6. Karo Parisyan, 7. Paulo Thiago, 8. Josh Koscheck, 9. Martin Kampmann, 10. Mike Swick
*Nick Thompson exits from the 10 spot following his loss to Tim Kennedy. His departure allows Mike Swick to enter the top 10.
LIGHTWEIGHT
1. BJ Penn, 2. Joachim Hansen, 3. Kenny Florian, 4. Tatsuya Kawajiri, 5. Eddie Alvarez, 6. Frankie Edgar, 7. Sean Sherk, 8. Gesias Calvancanti, 9. Hayato Sakurai, 10. Shinya Aoki
FEATHERWEIGHT
1. Mike Thomas Brown, 2. Urijah Faber, 3. Jose Aldo, 4. Leonard Garcia, 5. Wagnney Fabiano, 6. Takeshi Inoue, 7. Akitsohi Tamura, 8. Hatsu Hioki, 9. Dokonjonosuke Mishima, 10. Marlon Sandro
BANTAMWEIGHT
1. Miguel Torres, 2. Shinichi Kojima, 3. Eduardo Dantas, 4. Mamaru Yamaguchi, 5. Masakatsu Ueda, 6. Akitoshi Hokazono, 7. Yuki Shoujou, 8. Yasuhiro Urushitani, 9. So Tazawa, 10. Brian Bowles
POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Anderson Silva, 2. Georges St. Pierre, 3. Fedor Emelianenko, 4. Lyoto Machida, 5. Miguel Torres, 6. BJ Penn, 7. Rashad Evans, 8. Mike Thomas Brown, 9. Forrest Griffin, 10. Quinton Jackson
HEAVYWEIGHT
1. Fedor Emelianenko, 2. Josh Barnett, 3. Frank Mir, 4. Rodrigo Nogueira, 5. Brock Lesnar, 6. Randy Couture, 7. Brett Rogers, 8. Andrei Arlovski, 9. Shane Carwin, 10. Junior dos Santos
*Big shake up over the past month. Rogers crashes the rankings at number 7 after upsetting Arlovski who falls from 3 to 8. With Arlovski dropping, Mir, Nogueira, Lesnar, and Couture all move up one spot. Tim Sylvia drops out of the rankings from the 7 spot due to his loss to Ray Mercer. Frabicio Werdum also exits the rankings due to inactivity. This allows Shane Carwin to debut in the rankings at number 9.
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
1. Lyoto Machida, 2. Rashad Evans, 3. Forrest Griffin, 4. Quinton Jackson, 5. Mauricio Rua, 6. Renato Sobral, 7. Rogerio Nogueira, 8. Luiz Arthur Cane, 9. Rich Franklin, 10. Thiago Silva.
*Wanderlei Silva exits the rankings from the number 6 spot following his loss to Rich Franklin who enters at number 9. Sobral, Nogueira, and Cane all move up one spot.
MIDDLEWEIGHT
1. Anderson Silva, 2. Dan Henderson, 3. Yushin Okami, 4. Demian Maia, 5. Nathan Marquardt, 6. Robbie Lawler, 7. Jorge Santiago, 8. Thales Leties, 9. Kazuo Misaki, 10. Vitor Belfort
*Lawler drops from 4 to 6 following his loss to Jake Shields which allows Maia and Marquardt to move up one spot each.
WELTERWEIGHT
1. Georges St. Pierre, 2. Thiago Alves, 3. Jake Shields, 4. Jon Fitch, 5. Matt Hughes, 6. Karo Parisyan, 7. Paulo Thiago, 8. Josh Koscheck, 9. Martin Kampmann, 10. Mike Swick
*Nick Thompson exits from the 10 spot following his loss to Tim Kennedy. His departure allows Mike Swick to enter the top 10.
LIGHTWEIGHT
1. BJ Penn, 2. Joachim Hansen, 3. Kenny Florian, 4. Tatsuya Kawajiri, 5. Eddie Alvarez, 6. Frankie Edgar, 7. Sean Sherk, 8. Gesias Calvancanti, 9. Hayato Sakurai, 10. Shinya Aoki
FEATHERWEIGHT
1. Mike Thomas Brown, 2. Urijah Faber, 3. Jose Aldo, 4. Leonard Garcia, 5. Wagnney Fabiano, 6. Takeshi Inoue, 7. Akitsohi Tamura, 8. Hatsu Hioki, 9. Dokonjonosuke Mishima, 10. Marlon Sandro
BANTAMWEIGHT
1. Miguel Torres, 2. Shinichi Kojima, 3. Eduardo Dantas, 4. Mamaru Yamaguchi, 5. Masakatsu Ueda, 6. Akitoshi Hokazono, 7. Yuki Shoujou, 8. Yasuhiro Urushitani, 9. So Tazawa, 10. Brian Bowles
POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Anderson Silva, 2. Georges St. Pierre, 3. Fedor Emelianenko, 4. Lyoto Machida, 5. Miguel Torres, 6. BJ Penn, 7. Rashad Evans, 8. Mike Thomas Brown, 9. Forrest Griffin, 10. Quinton Jackson
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Round lengths
In the middle of a few really slow weeks of fight and having trouble thinking of things to blog about. So for this one I figured I would throw in my two cents on the length of rounds and it will branch off into a scoring argument.
There is a lot of rumblings for major non-title fights going to 5 rounds and there are to a lesser extent some people saying that title fights should go to 7 rounds. I am on board for those, but with a twist. If you were to do that, you would get even fewer fights than you do on PPV. I already don't like that I only get 6 or maybe 7 fights on a PPV broadcast. For my $55, I want to see as many fights as I can on UFC cards. If you were to go to 5 rounds for non-title fights and 7 rounds for title fights, the UFC will have to schedule 4 main card bouts and a swing bout for cards with one title fight and for cards with two title fights, you would probably have to have 3 scheduled and 1 swing fight. A normal person could get more on, but UFC always has horrible time management on their PPV broadcasts. No matter how good the fights are, there is a chance you might only get to see 4 fights if they all went the distance. I want more than that for my money. And for the people who say it will mean 15 minute fights that are great even better because you will get 10 more minutes, that argument doesn't fly with me cause it goes the other way as well as really bad fights will have 10 more minutes of crap.
My solution is to go to 4 minute rounds. I really like 4 minute rounds. 3 minutes is too short and 5 minutes can be too long half the time. IFL having 4 minute rounds was one of the things I liked best about their promotion. It gives the ground guys enough time to work despite what some people say. Some people would hate it, but they would whine and bitch about it for 6 months, realize it's here to stay, and stop worrying about it. If the rounds were 4 minutes long, that would make non-title fights 5 rounds and 20 minutes and title fights would be 7 rounds and 28 minutes. Yes you might get one less fight on cards, but I would be willing to sacrifice one fight to give every fight an extra 3 to 5 minutes to decide the outcome. And in theory, more rounds in smaller time frames should lead to more accurate scorecards from the judges.
There is a lot of rumblings for major non-title fights going to 5 rounds and there are to a lesser extent some people saying that title fights should go to 7 rounds. I am on board for those, but with a twist. If you were to do that, you would get even fewer fights than you do on PPV. I already don't like that I only get 6 or maybe 7 fights on a PPV broadcast. For my $55, I want to see as many fights as I can on UFC cards. If you were to go to 5 rounds for non-title fights and 7 rounds for title fights, the UFC will have to schedule 4 main card bouts and a swing bout for cards with one title fight and for cards with two title fights, you would probably have to have 3 scheduled and 1 swing fight. A normal person could get more on, but UFC always has horrible time management on their PPV broadcasts. No matter how good the fights are, there is a chance you might only get to see 4 fights if they all went the distance. I want more than that for my money. And for the people who say it will mean 15 minute fights that are great even better because you will get 10 more minutes, that argument doesn't fly with me cause it goes the other way as well as really bad fights will have 10 more minutes of crap.
My solution is to go to 4 minute rounds. I really like 4 minute rounds. 3 minutes is too short and 5 minutes can be too long half the time. IFL having 4 minute rounds was one of the things I liked best about their promotion. It gives the ground guys enough time to work despite what some people say. Some people would hate it, but they would whine and bitch about it for 6 months, realize it's here to stay, and stop worrying about it. If the rounds were 4 minutes long, that would make non-title fights 5 rounds and 20 minutes and title fights would be 7 rounds and 28 minutes. Yes you might get one less fight on cards, but I would be willing to sacrifice one fight to give every fight an extra 3 to 5 minutes to decide the outcome. And in theory, more rounds in smaller time frames should lead to more accurate scorecards from the judges.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Weekend predictions
Pretty lackluster weekend of fights, although looking ahead to next week, it is jammed back (I believe next weekend only has a M-1 Challenge card). Honestly, the most competitive fight I see this weekend is the DEEP Title fight between Miku Matsumoto and Lisa Ward. There is also a train wreck fight scheduled between Drew Fickett and Shannon Ritch, although that fight may not happen. Also including next Tuesday's DEEP card predictions cause otherwise I will forget. Toughest fight to pick was Yvel/Rizzo. I may even give a slight edge to Yvel, but I promised myself a long time ago that I would never ever pick Yvel in a fight again no matter what. Overall record for the year is 267-129-5-13 for 67.4%.
ULTIMATE CHAOS
Brett Cooper vs Waachiim Spiritwolf - Brett Cooper
Chris Horodecki vs William Sriyapi - Chris Horodecki
Din Thomas vs Javier Vasquez - Javier Vasquez
Gilbert Yvel vs Pedro Rizzo - Pedro Rizzo
Bob Sapp vs Bobby Lashley - Bobby Lashley
UCFC
JC Pennington vs Micah Miller - Micah Miller
Kyle Jensen vs Rich Clementi - Rich Clementi
RITC
Drew Fickett vs Shannon Ritch - Drew Fickett
5150
Joey Gorczysnki vs Marcus Aurelio - Marcus Aurelio
DEEP
Takafumi Ito vs Yoshihiro Tomioka - Yoshihiro Tomioka
Lisa Ward vs Miku Matsumoto - Miku Matsumoto
DEEP
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs Ryuta Sakurai - Ryuta Sakurai
Riki Fukuda vs Yuichi Nakanishi - Riki Fukuda
ULTIMATE CHAOS
Brett Cooper vs Waachiim Spiritwolf - Brett Cooper
Chris Horodecki vs William Sriyapi - Chris Horodecki
Din Thomas vs Javier Vasquez - Javier Vasquez
Gilbert Yvel vs Pedro Rizzo - Pedro Rizzo
Bob Sapp vs Bobby Lashley - Bobby Lashley
UCFC
JC Pennington vs Micah Miller - Micah Miller
Kyle Jensen vs Rich Clementi - Rich Clementi
RITC
Drew Fickett vs Shannon Ritch - Drew Fickett
5150
Joey Gorczysnki vs Marcus Aurelio - Marcus Aurelio
DEEP
Takafumi Ito vs Yoshihiro Tomioka - Yoshihiro Tomioka
Lisa Ward vs Miku Matsumoto - Miku Matsumoto
DEEP
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs Ryuta Sakurai - Ryuta Sakurai
Riki Fukuda vs Yuichi Nakanishi - Riki Fukuda
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Judging in MMA
After a weekend full of split decision, all sorts of discussion has been going around about the current state of judging in MMA today. I for one am convinced that if I took three random people off of the sherdog forums or the underground, I could get three judges who in the very least, would not be worse than the judges currently are today and would probably be better. You can NOT have boxing judges scoring MMA.
The second round in the Diego Sanchez/Clay Guida fight has been hotly debated as to how to score that round. The debate is either a) did Diego do enough in that one 20 second stretch to win the ground out right or b) did Diego do enough in the round off his back to win the round or c) did Guida win the round. Boxing judges give no love to the fighter on the bottom and very, very rarely do they score for the guy on the bottom. In jiu-jitsu matches, in the guard is basically considered a neutral position. And if you get an aggressive guy on the ground trying for armbars and such while the guy on top is just laying and praying, the bottom guy should win the round. But it does not get scored that way very often. This needs to change.
And I realize that it would never happen, cause judges are so entrenched in their thinking on how to score rounds already, but here is what I would like to see. Right now, a 10-9 round is a close one and a 10-8 round is a dominant one. What I would like to see: First off, make 10-10 rounds forbidden. Now I am all for scoring rounds 10-10, but in my scenario it would not work so 10-10 rounds would have to be forbidden. Then, I would like to see close rounds that could go either way scored 10-9 for one guy. The judges have to give the round to one guy 10-9. Then, a 10-8 round would be a round where one guy won clearly, but not in a dominating fashion. This would be most rounds that currently are scored 10-9. Then, a current day 10-8 round would be scored 10-7 under this system. It will never happen as I said cause judges are so entrenched in there current scoring system, but I think that would solve a lot of judging problems if you could get good judges scoring it that way and it would also negate the "fighter a won rounds 1 and 2 barely and then fighter b won round 3 bigger than fighter a won the first two rounds, but fighter a wins anyways 29-28." Under my proposed scoring system, the fight would be a 28-28 draw.
The second round in the Diego Sanchez/Clay Guida fight has been hotly debated as to how to score that round. The debate is either a) did Diego do enough in that one 20 second stretch to win the ground out right or b) did Diego do enough in the round off his back to win the round or c) did Guida win the round. Boxing judges give no love to the fighter on the bottom and very, very rarely do they score for the guy on the bottom. In jiu-jitsu matches, in the guard is basically considered a neutral position. And if you get an aggressive guy on the ground trying for armbars and such while the guy on top is just laying and praying, the bottom guy should win the round. But it does not get scored that way very often. This needs to change.
And I realize that it would never happen, cause judges are so entrenched in their thinking on how to score rounds already, but here is what I would like to see. Right now, a 10-9 round is a close one and a 10-8 round is a dominant one. What I would like to see: First off, make 10-10 rounds forbidden. Now I am all for scoring rounds 10-10, but in my scenario it would not work so 10-10 rounds would have to be forbidden. Then, I would like to see close rounds that could go either way scored 10-9 for one guy. The judges have to give the round to one guy 10-9. Then, a 10-8 round would be a round where one guy won clearly, but not in a dominating fashion. This would be most rounds that currently are scored 10-9. Then, a current day 10-8 round would be scored 10-7 under this system. It will never happen as I said cause judges are so entrenched in there current scoring system, but I think that would solve a lot of judging problems if you could get good judges scoring it that way and it would also negate the "fighter a won rounds 1 and 2 barely and then fighter b won round 3 bigger than fighter a won the first two rounds, but fighter a wins anyways 29-28." Under my proposed scoring system, the fight would be a 28-28 draw.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Hottest female fighters
Really slow time for MMA. No major shows this weekend coming up so to waste a post, in no particular the order, the 10 hottest female fighters today. Kyra Gracie would definitely make this list but she has never fought mma. Can't figure out how to get the photos where I want them to go so click on the link for a photo of each fighter.
1. Gina Carano (http://www.sherdog.com/pictures/gallery/fighter/f_16535/60829/62)
2. Julie Kedzie (http://www.sherdog.com/pictures/gallery/fighter/f_10093/40384/)
3. Sarah Kaufman (http://www.sherdog.com/pictures/gallery/fighter/f_16524/83068/41)
4. Miesha Tate (http://www.sherdog.com/pictures/gallery/fighter/f_26252/63104/)
5. Michelle Waterson (http://www.yorkblog.com/mma/michelle_waterson.jpg)
6. Erin Toughill (http://www.sherdog.com/pictures/gallery/fighter/f_1955/71828/17)
8. Keri Crothers (http://www.womenkickboxing.com/images/KeriCrothersPhoto.jpg)
9. Felice Herrig (http://www.womenkickboxing.com/feliceherrig.jpg)
Monday, June 22, 2009
MMA figures
I think I have mentioned before that I am a big collector of MMA memorabilia. Of course, a big part of memorabilia is action figures. There are three real brands of figures for MMA and I just thought I would make my points on each of them.
Far and away the best figures in my opinion are the Pride HAO ones. The detail on these are incredible and really have to be seen in person to believe. Seeing photos they look alright, but to have one in your hands is needed to really see the detail on them. I got my first Pride HAO figure a few months back (a Bob Sapp one) and instantly fell in love with them. I will for sure be expanding my HAO collection in the future. The only downside of these is that since they are no longer in production, the price of them is quite how nowadays.
Round 5 is the current leader in MMA figures. They just released their third series of figures (Arlovski, Nogueira, Mir, and Big John). The detail on these are also very good and since they are being mass produced right now, they are relatively cheap right now (about 12 bucks a pop at Wal-Mart here in Canada). They are collectibles and not suppose to be action figures like the UFC ones but they do have movable parts. A nice touch is the chaser ones that are produced in limited production. Anderson Silva for example, you can go into any store and get a Silva figure, but to get one where he is wearing a shirt is an extra couple bucks, but much more limited.
The UFC signed a deal with Jaks to produce figures for UFC guys and I am cringing and the photos I have seen of them. They look attrocious! They are more targeted towards playable action figures than collectibles, so they have way more movable parts. But the sheer quantity of movable parts really takes away from the figures. They just look like crap. I am really surprized that the UFC green lighted the project after seeing the inital designs. The first series does not come out for a few more months, so hopely they change the design before then.
Far and away the best figures in my opinion are the Pride HAO ones. The detail on these are incredible and really have to be seen in person to believe. Seeing photos they look alright, but to have one in your hands is needed to really see the detail on them. I got my first Pride HAO figure a few months back (a Bob Sapp one) and instantly fell in love with them. I will for sure be expanding my HAO collection in the future. The only downside of these is that since they are no longer in production, the price of them is quite how nowadays.
Round 5 is the current leader in MMA figures. They just released their third series of figures (Arlovski, Nogueira, Mir, and Big John). The detail on these are also very good and since they are being mass produced right now, they are relatively cheap right now (about 12 bucks a pop at Wal-Mart here in Canada). They are collectibles and not suppose to be action figures like the UFC ones but they do have movable parts. A nice touch is the chaser ones that are produced in limited production. Anderson Silva for example, you can go into any store and get a Silva figure, but to get one where he is wearing a shirt is an extra couple bucks, but much more limited.
The UFC signed a deal with Jaks to produce figures for UFC guys and I am cringing and the photos I have seen of them. They look attrocious! They are more targeted towards playable action figures than collectibles, so they have way more movable parts. But the sheer quantity of movable parts really takes away from the figures. They just look like crap. I am really surprized that the UFC green lighted the project after seeing the inital designs. The first series does not come out for a few more months, so hopely they change the design before then.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
TUF 9 Finale thoughts
Could be short as due to family comments, I only got to see Stevenson/Diaz happen live and then I watched Sanchez/Guida this morning on the internet.....I mean, on a legal television channel.
Sanchez/Guida was a really good fight. I was a little surprised as it was a split decision as I thought it was pretty obvious Sanchez won the first two rounds (I had it 10-9 Sanchez, 10-9 Sanchez, and 10-9 Guida). The first 45 seconds of the fight was outstanding. You always know you are going to get excitement when Clay Guida is in the cage. Sanchez is logically the next contender for the winner of Penn/Florian I think. Nobody else jumps out in my mind as being ahead of him for a shot. They should keep Tyson Griffin on a similar track so that Griffin can get the next shot after Sanchez. It would really be hard to screw up the matchmaking in the UFC Lightweight division right now.
Last night we saw the best Joe Stevenson that we have seen in quite a while. Props to Diaz for getting out of that guillotine as Stevenson's is money. 3 of Stevenson's last 5 victories have been by the guillotine choke. Moving to Greg Jackson's camp for this fight certainly appears to be a great move for Stevenson. As I said before the fight, I don't think Stevenson can improve too much more from what he is. He has been fighting mma professionally for over 10 years now. But he looked really solid tonight against Diaz in a fight he needed to win. He might have been cut had he lost. Next for Stevenson maybe a fight against Guida.
Sanchez/Guida was a really good fight. I was a little surprised as it was a split decision as I thought it was pretty obvious Sanchez won the first two rounds (I had it 10-9 Sanchez, 10-9 Sanchez, and 10-9 Guida). The first 45 seconds of the fight was outstanding. You always know you are going to get excitement when Clay Guida is in the cage. Sanchez is logically the next contender for the winner of Penn/Florian I think. Nobody else jumps out in my mind as being ahead of him for a shot. They should keep Tyson Griffin on a similar track so that Griffin can get the next shot after Sanchez. It would really be hard to screw up the matchmaking in the UFC Lightweight division right now.
Last night we saw the best Joe Stevenson that we have seen in quite a while. Props to Diaz for getting out of that guillotine as Stevenson's is money. 3 of Stevenson's last 5 victories have been by the guillotine choke. Moving to Greg Jackson's camp for this fight certainly appears to be a great move for Stevenson. As I said before the fight, I don't think Stevenson can improve too much more from what he is. He has been fighting mma professionally for over 10 years now. But he looked really solid tonight against Diaz in a fight he needed to win. He might have been cut had he lost. Next for Stevenson maybe a fight against Guida.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Bellator and ShoMMA thoughts
Eddie Alvarez blitzed Toby Imada in the Lightweight tournament final which was not surprising at all. As I mentioned the other day, Alvarez is a legit top 10 fighter and Imada is a journeyman. Although I hadn't realized it, but Imada had been on an 8 fight win streak before last night. But yeah, Alvarez was more aggressive and it was just a matter of time before he landed that right hook that was the beginning of the end. Hector Lombard vs Jared Hess was more one sided than I thought it was going to be. Yes Lombard does have a ton more big fight experience, but I thought Hess was a legit prospect. He may still be, but Lombard walked through him and left him a bloody mess to claim the Middleweight tournament. Hopefully Lombard will face some tougher competition soon an hopefully his VISA issues are all behind him and he can continue to fight in America.
The ShoMMA card was alright. The main even was a tough fight between Joey Villasenor and Evangelista Santos. Side note mini-rant, just once I would like a boxer or mma fighter with the first name of Joe or Joey to not have the nickname "Smokin". Fight went to a split decision. I agreed with the judges and had it 29-28 Villasenor (10-9 Villasenor/10-9 Cyborg/10-9 Villasenor). Each guy however I feel has pretty much reached their limit as a fighter and so I did not have a ton of interest in this bout. Jorge Gurgel/Conor Heun was a very entertaining fight. While Gurgel won clearly and I give him his props for that, that still doesn't mean I like him. Tim Kennedy beating Nick Thompson was a pretty big upset in my eyes. I think the blows that finished the fight where indeed to the back of the head, but I'm not sure if it would have mattered too much in the end. Kennedy was the better fighter last night. And I am very quickly falling in love with Sarah Kaufman. She is an amazing fighter. I can see her fighting the winner of Carano/Cyborg.
Ultimate Fighter Finale tonight.
The ShoMMA card was alright. The main even was a tough fight between Joey Villasenor and Evangelista Santos. Side note mini-rant, just once I would like a boxer or mma fighter with the first name of Joe or Joey to not have the nickname "Smokin". Fight went to a split decision. I agreed with the judges and had it 29-28 Villasenor (10-9 Villasenor/10-9 Cyborg/10-9 Villasenor). Each guy however I feel has pretty much reached their limit as a fighter and so I did not have a ton of interest in this bout. Jorge Gurgel/Conor Heun was a very entertaining fight. While Gurgel won clearly and I give him his props for that, that still doesn't mean I like him. Tim Kennedy beating Nick Thompson was a pretty big upset in my eyes. I think the blows that finished the fight where indeed to the back of the head, but I'm not sure if it would have mattered too much in the end. Kennedy was the better fighter last night. And I am very quickly falling in love with Sarah Kaufman. She is an amazing fighter. I can see her fighting the winner of Carano/Cyborg.
Ultimate Fighter Finale tonight.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Weekend predictions
A lot of good-but-not-great fights this weekend that I am really excited for. Kaufman/Baszler, Lombard/Hess, Stevenson/Diaz, and Guida/Sanchez all have me drooling. Overall record for the year, after a pretty good weekend last weekend, is 254-121-5-13 for 67.7%. Baring a miracle, my goal of 75 of the year won't happen.
BELLATOR FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Rosi Sexton vs Valerie Coolbough - Rosi Sexton
Eric Reynolds vs Jorge Masvidal - Jorge Masvidal
Fabio Mello vs Sami Aziz - Sami Aziz
Hector Lombard vs Jared Hess - Hector Lombard
Eddie Alvarez vs Toby Imada - Eddie Alvarez
SHO XC
Duane Ludwig vs Lyle Beerbohm - Lyle Beerbohm
Dennis Hallman vs Justin Davis - Dennis Hallman
Sarah Kaufman vs Shayna Baszler - Sarah Kaufman
Conor Heun vs Jorge Gurgel - Conor Heun
Nick Thompson vs Tim Kennedy - Nick Thompson
Evangelista Santos vs Joey Villasenor - Joey Villasenor
UFC
Cameron Dollar vs Jason Dent - Jason Dent
Frank Lestor vs Nick Osipczak - Nick Osipczak
Mike Ciesnolevicz vs Tomasz Drawl - Mike Ciesnolevicz
Brad Blackburn vs Edgar Garcia - Brad Blackburn
Gleison Tibau vs Melvin Guillar - Gleison Tibau
Joe Stevenson vs Nate Diaz - Nate Diaz
Chris Lytle vs Kevin Burns - Chris Lytle
Andre Winner vs Ross Pearson - Andre Winner
DaMarques Johnson vs James Wilks - DaMarques Johnson
Clay Guida vs Diego Sanchez - Diego Sanchez
BELLATOR FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Rosi Sexton vs Valerie Coolbough - Rosi Sexton
Eric Reynolds vs Jorge Masvidal - Jorge Masvidal
Fabio Mello vs Sami Aziz - Sami Aziz
Hector Lombard vs Jared Hess - Hector Lombard
Eddie Alvarez vs Toby Imada - Eddie Alvarez
SHO XC
Duane Ludwig vs Lyle Beerbohm - Lyle Beerbohm
Dennis Hallman vs Justin Davis - Dennis Hallman
Sarah Kaufman vs Shayna Baszler - Sarah Kaufman
Conor Heun vs Jorge Gurgel - Conor Heun
Nick Thompson vs Tim Kennedy - Nick Thompson
Evangelista Santos vs Joey Villasenor - Joey Villasenor
UFC
Cameron Dollar vs Jason Dent - Jason Dent
Frank Lestor vs Nick Osipczak - Nick Osipczak
Mike Ciesnolevicz vs Tomasz Drawl - Mike Ciesnolevicz
Brad Blackburn vs Edgar Garcia - Brad Blackburn
Gleison Tibau vs Melvin Guillar - Gleison Tibau
Joe Stevenson vs Nate Diaz - Nate Diaz
Chris Lytle vs Kevin Burns - Chris Lytle
Andre Winner vs Ross Pearson - Andre Winner
DaMarques Johnson vs James Wilks - DaMarques Johnson
Clay Guida vs Diego Sanchez - Diego Sanchez
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